


The Gardener of Naboo

by Borgupine



Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Gardens & Gardening, Love, Nature, One Shot, Planet Naboo (Star Wars), Post-War, Shmi Skywalker Deserves Better, The Force
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:07:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27954368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Borgupine/pseuds/Borgupine
Summary: A year after the defeat of Palpatine, Ben Solo takes a quiet moment in his growing garden on Naboo before Rey shows up.
Relationships: Rey & Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	The Gardener of Naboo

Ben rose with the dawn, beating the first beams of yellow light through the trees. He threw the double hinged doors wide, exposing the east side of the cabin to the distant horizon. Sat with his legs entwined, he teased his sleeping plaits out, first one side then the other, before tying them again for the day. They hung like a black flax either side of his neck before he fixed them together at the crown of his head to fall in a single strand.

The sunlight crept forward, stretching along the floor until it met his bare chest and filtered through his eyelids. The light was of liquid gold, the branches a parade of green leaves and soft fruits.

Birds called from their perches and critters scurried for food. As Ben stepped from the cabin barefoot into the trees, they stopped and watched. He plucked a plump shuura from a branch and bit into the soft flesh, the syrup chasing away the last silky remnants of sleep his morning meditations hadn’t swept aside. He held it up, half finished, for one of the squirrels to take back to its young. At first, he’d had to wait patient to feed them from his hand, now they came right up to his doorway and windows.

His hunger sated; Ben walked the woods. The soft earth pressed against his feet, cool but not cold. He breathed deep the wet and wild scent, the heady spice of moss and wood, the pepper of stinging leaves, the perfume of a hundred other fruits. The remains of an evening rain trickled from the canopy, spilling down his face and chest where it landed with a sigh. At a ring of pale white mushrooms, he stopped, sensing the wise, kind face of his great-grandmother, before he stepped aside and continued.

The trees thinned, falling away, until he passed through a perimeter of tall grass, soft as downy fur against his forearms, to the side of a sparkling pool. A wide circle of flowers, yellow, red and purple, surrounded the water like polished crystal in the surface of the earth.

With slow sure steps, he walked the edge, examining the flowers. Sometimes he stopped to free a bloom from the grip of a weed or plucking a petal eater and transporting it to the grass instead. When he’d finished a revolution, he stripped and waded out into the water.

Although the pool was by no means the widest on Naboo, and was shallowing with the summer sun, it stretched into dark depths. Ben dived all the way down, touching the soft mud at the bottom, and kicking up again where the water was clear.

His plaits hung heavy down the hard curve of his spine, and his long fringe framed his face. He tipped back so that he floated, cradled by the water with his arms outstretched. Closing his eyes, he reached out, focussing on a tiny echo until he could see faint shapes of people playing at the water’s edge. He opened himself to the memories, left like ghosts where flowers now grew, until they cleared, and he could see them. His grandmother, so much younger than he was now, with her handmaidens before everything changed.

“Isn’t it cold in there?” came a voice, rippling through the water.

For a moment he thought his grandmother was somehow reaching out through the Force, but when he opened his eyes, it was Rey standing on the shore, flowers reaching her knees.

Ben reorientated himself upright and treaded water in the middle of the pool. “Freezing!” he replied with a smile.

Rey bent over, resting her hands on her knees, and called him as though she was trying to coax a timid shaak. Ben shook his head and dove forward, swimming all the way to shore.

“I’m surprised you didn’t steal my clothes this time,” he said, striding out of the water and pushing his fringe out of his face.

“Don’t tempt me,” Rey replied as she cast her eyes over him.

Her robe was more cream and blue in the early morning light, and her hair was cropped shorter that it had been the month before. She held the strap of her lightsaber in place with one hand, the other she held out. Ben took it in his and, together, they walked a half moon around the pool until he found his slacks.

“If that’s all you were wearing, you may as well have been naked,” Rey said. “I don’t think the critters will mind.”

“Probably not,” Ben replied. “Knowing my luck, that’ll be when a delegation comes to visit the flowers.”

“Or when a bunch of Gungans come on-land for the first time. Yikes.”

“Or that.”

After a moment, she asked, “Have you planted today’s flowers.”

“Not yet.”

“I thought it would get easier,” he said. “It was, but today…”

“Ben, it’s alright,” Rey said, taking his hand again. “It’s been a year, of course it’s going to feel like reliving it all over again.”

He nodded once and pressed his forehead against hers, the tips of her short fringe tickling his drying skin. With a deep breath, he turned towards the water where the sun sparkled and tiny, near invisible insects skittered across the surface.

Closing his eyes and holding out his hands, he focussed on the bottom of the pool, where the seeds were nurtured until they were ready. He located them one by one in his mind, glimpsing their shapes before he brought them up to the surface.

Without needing to open his eyes, he moved through the suspended seeds, until a fresh green shoot burst from their shell. He left it up to the Force where they would be planted, leaving himself only its instrument. They floated down to different sides of the water, sinking beneath the surface where, with time, a fresh flower would bloom. One for Shmi, one each for Anakin and Padmé, another for Luke, and one for Leia.

“It’s beautiful, Ben. It really is,” Rey said. “Planting five new flowers every day, at this rate the entire planet will be a garden.”

It used to be, from all Ben knew. War had left it devastated and even now it was still healing. The signs were all around them. The pool spilling out from their feet had been a bomb crater, now it brought life.

A tickle brought Ben’s attention to his bare arm where an ant scurried along the crook of his elbow. He held up his hand and reached out with the Force. The ant paused and, through their shared connection, he saw an entire hive mind, perfect as the roots beneath his feet. There were the workers and the queen. Rey was right, Naboo would be a garden once again.

“Things have calmed down a lot since you went into hiding,” Rey said. “You could come back.”

“No,” Ben said, letting the ant scurry onto his hand. He lowered it to the grass and let it continue on its way. “Not yet.”

“Sometimes, I wish could just stay here forever.”

“The galaxy needs you more than me—”

She snorted. “Liar.”

“Maybe today the rest of the galaxy can wait.”

“Just for today,” Rey said and leaned onto her toes to kiss him.

When they returned to the cabin, the morning breeze played with Ben’s plaits, the dew was steaming off the trees, and everything was fresh and alive. A year had passed since they’d faced Palpatine, a year since his mother had died, a year since Rey had brought him back to life. Now he’d finish bringing Naboo back to life and then face whatever punishment the New Republic had in store for him.

For now, he listened to the birds call, the whisper of wind through the branches, and held onto Rey’s hand with a smile at his lips. 

**Author's Note:**

> Although I quite like The Rise of Skywalker, I am still fundamentally disanointed about the death of Ben Solo. At the time, I envisioned him surviving and living on Naboo. As we approach the one-year anniversary of the film's release, I have finally written that ending for Ben and Rey. 
> 
> The plaits he wears in his hair is to honour Padmé.


End file.
